Tea Party

One time I was visiting the quilt shop in the "next town over", and found the sample for this table runner and placemat set and fell "in love" with the fabric. 

It features plates and teacups, and I asked if she (the shop owner) had any of the fabric in stock. No, but she did still have one of the kits left. So, I bought it, one of the few occasions that I bought a kit and also one of the few occasions that I bought fabric at full price. And ouch! It definitely wasn't cheap! But it did include the backing, so I was at least saved that expense. 
With the fair coming up, I wanted items to enter in the table runner and placemat classes, and I had little time left. Unfortunately, the placemats I'd made recently were only in sets of 3 (Cat Chow and Starlight), as I made them primarily for my main company: my daughter and grandson, plus me, of course. And I needed four to enter them in the placemat class. As this kit had 4 placemats and a table runner, plus the construction was fairly straightforward and could be completed relatively quickly, I decided to make this set. 
Disappointingly, I was not as thrilled with it as I had been in the store. I'm not sure if she had made them with the yellow fabric on the front instead of the back. 

But somehow, it just didn't thrill me like it had before. And there wasn't enough of the blue fabric to do the backing, so I couldn't switch it up. 

I quilted the set on the longarm, using the High Tea pantograph, which features teapots, teacups and cupcakes. 
It's pretty, but I still think I would have preferred the yellow on the front instead of the blue. The placemats won a second place ribbon at the fair and the table runner a third. Next year, I will have to wow the judges with a more elaborate design than this relatively simple set. If I choose to enter at all. Entering fairs can be a lot of work.